Birthdays
by ELIE
Summary: What happens when Naruto gets sick? [SasuNaru]


A/N: This is actually a birthday gift—for me. A belated gift, to be exact. But then… I don't know why I'm doing it. A gift, perhaps? Ah, who cares. Just read on and enjoy. And just to inform you, my grammar sucks.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But I do own Gaara—haha. Just kidding.

**Birthdays**

There are certain days when Uzumaki Naruto wears a frown. This phenomenon was quite rare because usually, the boy found no reason to frown—even in times of darkness or despair. Today, however, was obviously an exception for instead of using 24 muscles to smile, he used 43 to frown (A/N: I have no idea about the muscles thing. So if I got it wrong… kindly correct me. ). The reason why is still unknown.

On these odd times that Kyuubi boy would frown, it would most probably be for one of these reasons: number one, his favorite ramen store ran out of ramen—which is quite impossible, number two, he is experiencing a great conflict or is trying to solve a big problem or number three, he's just sad.

But even then, the first reason seems impossible because Naruto would find a way to make sure that it won't happen. The second reason is hardly a reason for Naruto to frown. After all, he has undergone a lot of incomparable things to conflicts or problems. The third and last reason… possible, yes, but the question now is WHY?

Naruto grumbled under his breath, almost missing the meeting place Kakashi had informed him of. It was another mission, Kakashi had told them beforehand, but reassured them that it was so easy, they could do it asleep. Naruto though, had other things in mind than doing missions asleep.

"You're late," Uchiha Sasuke said in his usual I'm-an-Uchiha-and-I'm-better-than-you voice. Naruto didn't bother to answer and instead stood in front of Kakashi, beside Haruno Sakura.

"Now that you're all here…" Kakashi began, giving Naruto a smile—when you know Kakashi long enough, you'll be able to read his expressions without seeing his whole face. This was one of the techniques Naruto had found hard to master but he managed, somehow.

"Shall we start?"

ooOOoo

The mission was simple enough, retrieving scrolls for some person… Naruto didn't really listen much. After all, he had more pressing matters to think of. To help ease your (the reader) gradually increasing curiousity, today is Naruto's "sacred" birthday.

The problem is Naruto didn't know what to do about it. Usually, for other people, this would be a joyous occasion and would most probably throw parties and invite people they didn't know they knew a sort of birthday-slash-reunion party in one. Naruto is a different matter altogether. He didn't care for his birthdays. He was aware of them, yes, but there was nobody to celebrate it with but himself… so why bother?

But now… Now is different. He found (somewhat) friends (sort of). He had a reason to celebrate the day of his birth but he didn't know how to act on it. Should he be his usual loud self and announce oh-so-subtly (which, when taken from Naruto's vocabulary is not subtle at all) to everyone around? Or should he just keep quiet, like he did for the past years? After all, they don't really consider him as a friend. A teammate, maybe. A rival, possible. An obstacle, most probably. But never a friend. Maybe Naruto did have a good reason to question his existence after all.

ooOOoo

"Naruto," Sakura's voice brought him back to reality. "Focus."

Naruto nodded dumbly although in truth he didn't hear what Sakura had said. His mind was still thinking of pretty distressing things. The mission was easy, as Kakashi promised. The three were asked to retrieve some scrolls (or was it rolls?) from someone and then return it to someone somewhere… Naruto didn't concern himself with the specifics of a mission. And now, he was considering changing that.

Sasuke, acting like his usual self, went on to where the scrolls were located, taking idle glances at his two companions behind him whenever he could. This Uchiha was quite (pretty much there but his pride wouldn't let him admit it) worried about Naruto's behavior. Once in a blue moon, Naruto would be acting like this—lifeless, tired and disturbed. Usually, he would the one in front, the one to waste the most chakra and most likely to be voted "Most Reckless". Today was entirely different. Naruto was spacing out and he had spoken less than three words for the past hour—not Naruto-ish at all.

Sakura caught Sasuke's glance, which was directed to Naruto. Unfortunately, Naruto was too oblivious to the things around him to notice. She understood, of course. Naruto's new behavior was the last thing she expected. Weird but true, Sakura is worried about him too.

ooOOoo

"Naruto?"

Naruto looked up and saw Sakura peering at him. He met her gaze, which was concerned at the moment. Although Naruto wasn't sure what Sakura was worried about. They got the scroll after all and properly returned it to its rightful owner and they didn't even use as much chakra as they do with the past missions.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked him. Behind her, Sasuke was leaning against a tree, waiting for… well, something.

"Yeah, I am." Naruto answered. It was a new experience for both Sakura and Sasuke to hear Naruto talk so softly. As if he were so fragile, he'll break with a mere touch. The image Naruto marked in their minds was someone loud, arrogant and ramen-addicted rebellious.

Sakura didn't press further but the other two knew that she was not convinced with that three worded answer. Nevertheless, Sakura just sat there, leaning behind the same tree as Sasuke's.

Inwardly, Naruto was relieved that Sakura had respected his answer because he was sure if she asked him more questions, he'd no doubt tell the truth—he was like that, it was hard for him to lie—and he was not ready for that.

And judging from the looks Sasuke was giving, he had questions of his own too.

Silence was something Naruto and his other teammates were not accustomed to. Naruto would always see something to brag, talk, shout or nag about so it wasn't really normal to see the three quiet down like this.

"Well," Sakura announced after a few minutes. "I think it's getting quite late,"

Sasuke nodded while Naruto did nothing.

"We'd better get going." Sakura continued, standing up from her seated position. "At least I should. Naruto,"

Once again, Naruto answered Sakura by looking up; waiting for what the girl had to say. It seems that the tables have been turned this special day for it wa Sakura who was constantly showing concern for Naruto, not the other way around.

"Take care… of yourself." Sakura said, almost unsure of what to say. Sasuke nodded at her words and with that, Sakura left the two alone.

Once again, silence reigned between the two of them. Sasuke just stood there and Naruto… he was probably thinking about things again. Not that anybody could blame him.

Naruto has a complicated past, full of anger and hate. He grew up not knowing or understanding love or even friendship. He taught himself to live alone—simple and easy. Although the boy had encountered life differently as he planned it, he faced each obstacle head-on and he never backed down. He would always try.

Again… and again… and again.

"Naruto," Sasuke's voice came down on him cold and hard, diverting Naruto's attention to him. Funny, when Naruto doesn't want attention, he gets it and when he does, he doesn't. whoever came up with that reverse psychology idea sure knew what he was talking about. "Whatever you're thinking of—" his voice trailed off.

Naruto blinked curiously at him, also a signal for him to continue.

"Don't try to think so much of it. You're freaking me out," Sasuke being silent is one, being incomprehensible is another. What the hell is he talking about?

Naruto's face probably told him more than his mouth for Sasuke glanced at him, looked away and heaved a sigh. Miracles do come true. Sasuke is in distress.

"This… You… We're worried about you, Sakura and I. it's just not like you to be this quiet or this lifeless or this… dead."

Naruto blinked once. Twice. He was hearing things. He was definitely hearing things. There was practically no way Sasuke could be capable of saying such words. And all directed to him, which made it more unbelievable.

The "…We're worried about you…" part affected him the most especially the "Sakura and I". Uchiha Sasuke was not influenced by such emotions, much less able to feel them.

"W-worried?" Naruto echoed, half-hoping he heard right. When it comes right down to it, he did want somebody—anybody, even Sasuke—to show some genuine care for him.

"Well, yeah," Sasuke shrugged, a light blush on his cheeks. Just when Naruto was ready to conclude that the world was falling apart and things were indeed weird…

They just got weirder.

"I'm fine," Naruto replied. He was uncertain of what to say because this was the first time he saw Sasuke like this. Still, there was this strange urge to grin. Finally, Sasuke admits that he IS worried about him.

It wasn't surprising for silence to take its reign once again between the two but thankfully, Sasuke saved the two of them from that. He grumbled something about going somewhere and pardoning for leaving. He didn't wait for Naruto to answer. He just walked away soon after his statement.

Sasuke acting like a blushing idiot confronted with his long-time crush sure is weird…

But it's a great birthday present.

-owari-

A/N: This was supposed to be a NaruHina fic but if I did continue this to be a NaruHina, it would take me a long time and… I want the fic to be posted sometime near my birthday. So I made it NaruSasu instead. Is it obvious? I hope it is. It was so hard to write about how Sasuke sort of confesses his care for Naruto… but I hope you guys will like the way it turned out. As usual, comments, corrections (about my grammar, that muscles thingy or anything else) and violent reactions are most welcome. And please remember to save the trees. XD


End file.
